Kestrel
Kestrel was a female SkyWing and one of the Guardians of the Dragonets. She taught and "cared" for the Dragonets of Destiny while there they were in the hidden cave, having been a member of the Talons of Peace before being killed by Princess Blister in the epilogue of The Dragonet Prophecy. She seemed to be the strongest and harshest of the guardians, though she was quick to come and help when she was told that the dragonets were in danger by Blister and Morrowseer, proving that she might have cared about them, or at least their role in the prophecy. Her mate was Chameleon (in the form of the SkyWing Soar), though according to Chameleon, she didn't know who he was, thinking he was just the dragon assigned to her, and she was the mother of Peril and her dead brother. She appears to carry the recessive firescales gene. Appearance Kestrel had jewel-hard rust-colored scales (also described as red-gold or orange-red), as well as red wings and red talons . She has been described with yellow , orange , and orange-yellow eyes and was said to be large. She also was said to have a forked tongue . She had burn scars on her palms from an attempt to save her daughter, Peril, from Queen Scarlet. In the graphic novel, she also had a burn scar on the side of her face. Biography Pre-Series Years before the series began, Kestrel was one of Queen Scarlet's most loyal soldiers. Under Queen Scarlet's orders, she entered the SkyWing breeding program and produced one large egg containing twins, a rare occurrence. One of the dragonets, the female, hatched with twice the amount of fire she should have had while her brother had almost none, causing guaranteed death. Since such dragonets were always killed, Kestrel attempted to escape to save them, but was caught at the Diamond Spray River. Scarlet told her that if Kestrel killed one, she would not be held responsible for her disobedience. In addition, the other dragonet would live. Kestrel killed the dragonet without any fire with her own claws. Scarlet went back on her word and ordered her guards to attack, forcing Kestrel to flee for her life. Kestrel attempted to save her daughter, but burned her palms on the dragonet's scales. She was forced to leave her surviving dragonet behind, and could not return to her, as she knew she would be killed by Scarlet. ''The Dragonet Prophecy In the prologue, Kestrel was the dragon who found Hvitur's dead body and the shattered SkyWing egg at the base of a mountain after he had been murdered by Burn's poisonous tail, and had a short, snappy conversation with Webs before the prologue ended. It also included the news of Asha's death. She acted as a guardian and fighting instructor for the five dragonets of destiny, a task she loathed because it reminded her of her lost dragonets. She was one of the reasons the dragonets were so desperate to escape, although Sunny wasn't bothered by her constant temper. Later captured and imprisoned again by Queen Scarlet, she was set free by Peril, Clay, Tsunami, and Sunny when the dragonets escaped with the aid of Peril. She later parted ways with them and her daughter, but Peril believed she'd have time to talk to her mother after making sure that Queen Scarlet was dead. In the epilogue, Blister and Morrowseer betrayed her. First they told her that the dragonets were in danger, to get her to come. Then Morrowseer had said that neither the dragonets, Blister, or himself needed the Skywing; Blister then slashed Kestrel's throat and stabbed her in the chest with her venomous tail barb. Morrowseer proceeded to fling her off the cliff and into the ocean. The Lost Heir A SeaWing guard, possibly Urchin, found Kestrel's body upon a boulder at the base of a cliff near the Summer palace. She was murdered violently before the arrival of the dragonets of destiny at the Summer Palace, having her throat slit and her heart stabbed by a SandWing's tail - earlier found to be killed by Blister in the epilogue of ''The Dragonet Prophecy. At first, only Tsunami and Coral's court knew about the murder, although the other dragonets eventually found out. Sunny was very upset over Kestrel's death, even though Tsunami assured her that Kestrel, with her foul temper, did not deserve Sunny's grief. ''The Dark Secret Kestrel appears in Starflight's flashback. She barges into the study room and destroys the scroll Starflight and Sunny are reading, yelling at Webs for "filling their heads with questions and ideas." The Brightest Night Sunny tells Peril of Kestrel's death. Peril seemed devastated and deeply shook, even though she shows distaste towards her mother. [[Escaping Peril|''Escaping Peril]] Kestrel is mentioned several times in Escaping Peril. She is mentioned when Peril and Turtle talk to Cirrus and the Talons of Peace and several other times after that. ''Darkness of Dragons'' When Sunny tells Qibli to go to history class, Qibli says that the class is "torture". Sunny responds by saying that he was lucky that he didn't have to do battle training with Kestrel. Personality Because she had lost both of her dragonets and was exiled from the Sky Kingdom, Kestrel was usually bad-tempered, grumpy, and hot-headed, though only a little more than normal SkyWings. She was assumed to be just cruel and mean naturally, but it was later revealed that this was because she was bitter about being lied to and subsequently losing her dragonets. She often bullied and abused Glory, as Glory wasn't a SkyWing, and a SkyWing dragonet was required in the Dragonet Prophecy. She was supposed to be the one to kill Glory on Morrowseer's orders, saying that she would snap Glory's neck while she was sleeping, but she failed because Glory was hidden by her camouflage, and everyone managed to escape. Kestrel seemed to hate all the Dragonets of Destiny, and she thought they were useless. Family Tree Relationships Clay '' Clay always was the one to be picked out of all the dragonets to learn how to fight due to him because of his ability to breathe fire and size. She knew that MudWings can only breathe fire when they are warm enough. Unknowingly, he was developing his special fireproof scales, which causes his scales to heal from any burn within a few seconds. ''Tsunami '' Tsunami appears to dislike Kestrel, and Kestrel feels the same way due to the ancient SkyWing grudge at the SeaWings due to the Royal SeaWing Massacre. She even bit off a scale from her to prevent Kestrel from forcing Clay to fight. Kestrel severely punishes Tsunami to the point of chaining her up when she disobeyed her order in The Dragonet Prophecy. Glory Kestrel hates Glory due to the fact that she is a RainWing and not a SkyWing, like the prophecy called for. She often refers to her as lazy and weak. Kestrel was supposed to murder Glory for the prophecy in the first book, but thanks to the aid of the rest of the dragonets, Glory managed to escape. Starflight Kestrel would often burn Starflight just like all the other dragonets, especially because he could not fight. Sunny Kestrel seems to dislike Sunny the least. The optimistic dragonet was most likely treated better by the guardians, including Kestrel. Sunny noted that she had stopped to grieve for Dune and Kestrel at night sometimes. ''Dune Helped Kestrel and Webs raise the dragonets. Kestrel seemed to be neutral with him. Peril It is likely that she cared about her daughter, as she tried to flee with her. When she found out Peril was alive, she told her, "I thought you were dead." In addition to that, after Glory "kills" Queen Scarlet, she invites Peril to come with her -- however, Peril declines, ending their relationship is Kestrel is killed shortly afterwards. Quotes "Of all the horrible ideas. RainWings are wretched creatures. Nothing like SkyWings." - ''About Webs' plan to replace the broken SkyWing egg with a RainWing egg. ''"WHICH LEFT WAS THAT, USELESS? Are all MudWings this stupid? OR ARE YOU JUST DEAF?" - To Clay, during battle training. '' ''"The prophecy calls for a SkyWing! And you bring us a lazy, stupid RainWing?" - To Webs after he brings a RainWing egg instead of a SkyWing egg in The Dragonet Prophecy (Graphic Novel) only. "WHAT is going on here?" "This doesn't look like studying." "You mean play-acting. You are too old for games." "Well, there's no surprises with you. Webs stole your egg from the SeaWing queen's own hatchery." "I am the way life has made me. Take it or leave it." "We await the wings of fire." - To Webs "I-I thought you were dead." - ''To Peril "''I'm your teacher. Nothing I do is cheating." - ''To Clay, after he yells at her for stomping on his tail. ''"Where's the violent little dragon I saw in you when you hatched? ''That's ''the dragon we need for the prophecy." - ''To Clay while they were fighting in ''The Dragonet Prophecy. Trivia * Kestrel is the third named dragon to appear in the series, as well as the first SkyWing. * She is also the fourth guardian of the Dragonets of Destiny to die in the series. * A kestrel is a species of small falcon that hovers with rapidly beating wings while searching for prey on the ground. * In The Dragonet Prophecy, she reveals that she was part of the breeding program in order to supply the SkyWing army with soldiers. * Kestrel is the second known dragon to have survived being burned by Peril, with the others being Clay and Prince Winter. * Kestrel treated the Dragonets of Destiny cruelly due to her bitterness about losing both her dragonets. It is unknown if she would have warmed up sooner if she hadn't died. * In the graphic novel some of her quotes in chapter one are different from the book. I.e, She asks Clay out loud if "all MudWings are stupid or are you just deaf?" while in the graphic she yells "are all MudWings this useless, or just you?" * Even though Kestrel says she "wouldn't come running" if the dragonets needed her, she proved herself wrong and was killed by Blister. Gallery Canon SkyWing.GIF|A typical SkyWing (colored), by Joy Ang SkyTransparent.png|A typical SkyWing (lineart), by Joy Ang SkyWing Sigil.png|SkyWing Sigil by Platypus the SeaWing Germanskywing.jpg|A typical SkyWing from the German publication, by Max Meinzold Screen Shot 2017-07-31 at 5.21.28 AM.png|Kestrel and Clay in the Wings of Fire Graphic Novel Fan Art KestrelTemplate.png|Reference by Platypus the SeaWing (lineart by Joy Ang) TooMuchFireRemake copy.png|Kestrel by Hawkyfootwarrior Kestrel art.png|Wings of Fie Tunes: Faith by stArchaeopteryx KestrelbyAlaska.jpeg|Kestrel by AlaskatheIceWing messykestrel.png|messy Kestrel by RiftSeaWing KestrelQC.png|Kestrel by QueenClam|link=https://gdtrekkie.deviantart.com/art/Kestrel-660252963 SkyWing Sigil.png|SkyWing Sigil by Platypus the SeaWing d_a_d_kestrel__day_6_by_vision_seeker-das9pba.png|D.a.d Kestrel- day 6 by Vision-Seeker|link=http://lord-lin.deviantart.com/art/D-a-d-Kestrel-day-6-652143718 kestrel_pose_by_vision_seeker-datkayr.jpg|Kestrel Pose by Vision-Seeker|link=http://lord-lin.deviantart.com/art/Kestrel-Pose-654317955 candle_in_the_wind_by_brokebackbromance-d8b4xke.jpg|Candle In The Wind by BrokebackBromance|link=http://brokebackbromance.deviantart.com/art/Candle-In-The-Wind-502435310 kestrel_by_meapyblossom-dafmkss.jpg|Kestrel by Meapyblossom|link=http://wof-darkstalker-fans.deviantart.com/art/Kestrel-630909388 16 Kestrel.png|WoF H-a-D Day 16 - Kestrel by xTheDragonRebornx KestrelQC2.png|Kestrel by QueenClam|link=https://gdtrekkie.deviantart.com/art/SkyWings-1-727425083 824146383be76efdd159e3630af341d34817285d_hq.jpg|Kestrel by strangerwings fe77d6d4b7e8fe85d9c7f72ea2500d83.jpg|WoF H-a-D Day 16 - Kestrel by xTheDragonRebornx kestrel__wings_of_fire__by_eagleclaw6089-dc8eda7.png.jpg|Kestrel of Fire by eagleclaw6089 kestrel_s_death_by_lokidrawz-dc71ljq.jpg|Kestrel's death by LokiDrawz wings_of_fire__kestrel_by_sesquipedalian101-dbo91hp.jpg|Wings of Fire: Kestrel by Sesquipedalian101 kestrel_s_trial_by_astronavan-dc1zo3s.png.jpg|icons, abstract thee by ASTRONAVAN (was given permission to upload) fanwings_contest_by_twilight_tyto-dam1d49.jpg|Betrayal by Twilight-Tyto fee14eed45c6a4bfa276c23434d88abc-dc7a70p.png.jpg|kestrel (Wings of Fire) by GreenDragonBane SkyWing (joy ang style).jpeg|A sketch- Carnelian or Kestrel? by MoonlightFantasy. 506E8561-53A5-48D8-9D90-7A1FF9A4E670.png|By RandomWeirdoDragon References de:Kestrel fr:Crécerelle pl:Pustułka ru:Кречет Category:Characters Category:Females Category:SkyWings Category:DP Characters Category:LH Characters Category:Mentioned in BN Category:Supporting Characters Category:Talons of Peace Category:Soldiers Category:Deceased Category:Antagonists Category:Mentioned in DoD Category:Mentioned in EP